


Cloudy Days

by picaselle



Category: Block B
Genre: AU, M/M, Magical Realism, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-08
Updated: 2014-11-08
Packaged: 2018-02-24 15:09:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2585960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/picaselle/pseuds/picaselle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jaehyo  possesses a unique talent.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cloudy Days

**Author's Note:**

> For archiving purposes. Originally posted on 14.10.2011.

It has always been like this. He doesn’t know when it started, but he doesn’t want to know. He accepted it. Not that he had a choice, but forgetting made the past a blank sheet of paper, and thus it’s easier. It’s easier, because it’s the only thing he knows.

He’s been in this town for a while. He chose it randomly while tracing his fingers over the map. Nothing he ever did had a purpose; he just existed. And what he did required him to occasionally move on. He could feel it coming each time, as if there was an invisible line which he shouldn’t cross.

This time it’s a bakery, or what he thinks should have actually been called a cookie shop. It’s small and squeezed in-between old houses. The outside is painted a bright yellow, but inside it’s all blue and white. He doesn’t feel at home but it’s closest he came to having one. It took time and effort to stitch everything together, for the seams were loose and the thread was twisted. Here he is though, selling cookies. Cookies that make people sad.

At first he thought it would finally be different. It was foolish, but for once he was full of hope. He loved the feeling of dough under his fingers. Baking made him happier than he had been in years. Still, he could see it in the eyes of his first customer. What he made ended up making people sad. Their brows would furrow, their smiles drop. When he closed his eyes, he could see the corners of their mouths bending and ungluing themselves, falling onto the floor and shattering into tiny pieces. Never to be put together again. And even though nothing has changed, people keep coming because they like getting drunk on despair.

He wonders sometimes why it turned out like this. The world never lacks sadness. It would probably have been more logical if he were able to give people happiness.

 

The meowing always proves to be more effective than any alarm clock. He isn’t fond of cats, but somehow he’s started living with one. It’s white with sharp, green eyes and a streak of mischievousness that is currently making Jaehyo trip. He lands on the floor and groans in pain. The world is still blurry and washed-out at the edges, but he notices the ball of fur running away.

His morning routine is done on auto-pilot. He’s like a robot until he reaches the kitchen. He takes the dough out of fridge and preheats the oven. Somehow the cookies end up cat-shaped.

 

It’s almost the closing time when he comes. Jaehyo thinks he must be new in town, for his customers rarely change. All the new additions are either tourists or people who have just moved in.

He’s tall and intimidating. Something about him makes Jaehyo stare. His eyes trace the boy’s face while the other looks at the cookies on display. There’s only the ticking of the clock and the beat the boy’s fingers create tapping on the counter and-

He looks up and indeed he’s been caught red-handed. He blushes. The boy just smirks and leans closer.

“There’s not much you have left.”

“I’m closing soon,” he stutters.

“Hmm...then I’ll take all the remaining cookies.”

Jaehyo packs them and calculates the price, all the time feeling as if something is about to break.

“Here you go.”

The boy takes one cookie out of the bag and bites into it.

“They’re pretty good. I may come back tomorrow to get some more then.”

It’s later when Jaehyo is cleaning the counter that he realizes that the other said it with a smile. Not even a trace of sadness anywhere to be seen.

 

He’s anxious. He even baked an extra tray of cookies today. The cat tried to sabotage his hard work by attacking the oven, but in the end the only thing it accomplished was burning itself. Jaehyo finds the sight of the cat lying near the entrance of the shop with bandaged paws hilarious. It huffs and puffs almost like a human, but he ignores it in favour of putting the cookies on display.

The little girl he had seen a few times before suddenly comes by today. It’s like a cloud of rain. Sometimes he wishes he could just refuse to sell anything, but he owns a shop after all. And the sadness suits her as if it were a professionally-tailored dress.

The boy comes later in the evening, but earlier than the previous day. At first he doesn’t notice him, even though the bell rings. The girl has taken the last sun-shaped cookies and he’s left staring at cookie clouds. He imagines them floating in the sky and showering everything with rain. There are birds clawing at the clouds in his mind when the boy says “Hey!”

“You only have one type of cookies left today as well?”

“You come too late.”

“Didn’t think the cookies of despair would be so popular.”

“Excuse me?”

The boy laughs and leans on the counter.

“That’s what people call them in this town. Didn’t you know?”

He looks down at the floor. His skin feels too cold and he just wants to get away.

“No.”

“Really? Well, I wanted to see if what people say about them is true, but I guess it’s a myth after all.”

“Huh?”

The boy rolls his eyes.

“You know, they don’t make me feel depressed. I’m Jiho, by the way.”

Jaehyo stares at him, eyes wide.

“Uhm...I-I’m Jaehyo.”

“Right. So I’ll have the remaining cloud cookies then.”

 

He stays in the shop half an hour longer than he’s supposed to. The cat nudges him with its head, but Jaehyo doesn’t want to give up just yet. So he stands, staring at the door until his eyes start to water. The sun goes down, bathing the shop in bright, orange light and painting the counter red. His insides twist and flutter. He sighs and locks the door. It’s not unusual for his customers to only come on certain days.

 

He wakes up before the cat for once. It’s stretched on the pillow beside him, its paws almost in his face. He quietly gets up and goes to the kitchen. It’s early but he’s been wanting to try baking a new type of cookies for a while. He completely burns the first tray.

Jiho comes when he’s about to close the shop.

“I’m too late today, right?”

“Not really.”

Jiho raises his eyebrow and points at the display.

“But there’s absolutely nothing here.”

“Wait a second.”

Jaehyo goes to the kitchen and takes a small bag.

“Here you go.”

Jiho takes it from him, looking confused. He can’t help but chuckle. It looks adorable and suddenly he just wants to make the other stay. Even if just for a few more minutes.

“Did you bake them especially for me?”

“No, you were just lucky.”

Jaehyo barely stops himself from stuttering because the other is looking at him too closely. Everything appears to be out of his control. He guesses it’s what humans call feeling.

 

Jiho doesn’t come the next day or the day after. He tells himself that he’s not disappointed. It’s not like him to grow attached to anyone. He’s been leaving parts of his life behind all the time. Still, he feels a bit empty, as if someone cut off a part of his heart.

 

The cat takes to following him everywhere. It scratches the counter, sleeps on the trays and pushes the eggs off the table. He wishes he had eyes all around his head, for the cat never rests. The days are all a blur with how much mess he needs to clean everyday.

It’s after one particularly big kitchen disaster that he discovers the recipe for the cookies he baked a few weeks ago. He forgot all about it, but now he reckons he could try baking them again.

 

They come in all different colours, a few look like rainbows. He can’t help but smile at their ridiculousness. Still, he likes them more than anything he has ever baked. Even the cat seems to be satisfied with them because he leaves the tray they are on alone. And they sell well.

 

He notices that something has changed when the next day the customers come back with smiles on their faces. Jaehyo figures it must be the new cookies, so for a few days he stops baking them. Still, it doesn’t matter if he makes them cat-shaped or sun-shaped, the customers don’t seem to be sad.

The little girl stops by one day as well. She looks around but doesn’t buy anything in the end. Jaehyo calls out to her when she’s about to leave the shop.

“I have a new type of cookies that I wanted you to try.”

She looks surprised but eats them anyway. After she finishes, she smiles at him and her smile is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. It’s enough for him to stop questioning himself. He doesn’t know how, but it seems that the cookies of despair now bring happiness.

 

It’s been raining the whole day. A few people came by in the morning, but since noon it has just been him and the cat. He isn’t surprised though, he doesn’t think that he would want to go out in such weather either. Thus, he decides to just close the shop earlier.

Jaehyo is checking the cash register when he hears the door bell ring. He looks up and his heart skips a beat. There’s a familiar boy standing in the entrance, all soaked but with a smile on his face.

“Long time no see.”

“Hi,” he stutters and grabs the counter to steady himself.

“So I’ve heard that since I left, your cookies have become cookies of happiness?”

The boy stops in front of the counter. Jaehyo can’t look away. His whole world freezes and there’s only Jiho and the dull pain in his chest.

“Yeah.”


End file.
